Monday, 31 August 2015

Table time again. The words are still rationed, owing to me having spoken too much last weekend. I don’t have an infinite supply of these things, you know.

Having obtained some fresh, juicy numbers, courtesy of Boak and Bailey, I thought I’d do something with them. As 1960 marks the end of the period I’m currently focussing on, it seems a good excuse to take a look at the state of British beer then.

Boak and Bailey’s data came from a Which? Report into beer from 1960. It’s hard to imagine how much in the dark drinkers were about the strength of the beer back then. Brewers were very secretive about how strong their beer was. With good reason. Their reflex reaction to tax increases had long been to cut gravities. By not telling their customers about gravities, they hoped they might not notice their beer was getting weaker.

This report and the occasional newspaper article were the only times beer strengths were ever detailed. I know kicking CAMRA is a modern sport, but it was they who dragged beer gravities out into the open. In the late 1970’s, as brewers wouldn’t say how strong their beers were, CAMRA had them analysed themselves. And published the results in the Good Beer Guide. Once the information was out in the open, some brewers started to publish their gravities. Eventually legislation obliged them to include it on beer labels.

But back in the dark days of 1970, the only way to get an idea of the strength of a beer was its name and price. Though those indicators weren’t 100% reliable. There are plenty of examples of Best Bitter in the tables below that aren’t very best. They range from 1032º to 1048º. As average gravity was around 1037º at this time, I would expect a Best Bitter to be stronger than that.

You’ll notice that several beers appear in both tables. I’m reassured that the prices mostly match, as do the gravities to within a few percentage points.

The bitterness number which appears in the Which? Table is something called “Index of Hop Bitter”. Not sure exactly what that is, but it doesn’t look far off an IBU number to me. Perhaps a touch lower. It amuses me that one of the beers with the highest bitterness is From William Younger, a Scottish brewery. Weren’t they supposed to use almost no hops in Scotland?

There’s a huge variation in value for money, as indicated by the final column, which gives the price in pennies of 1% ABV. I’m pleased to see that the winner of this particular race, by a whisker, is Carlisle State Management. A nationalised brewery. And it’s reassuring to see that by far the worst value for money is a keg beer, Flowers Bitter. You’ll note that the average price per % ABV is very similar for both tables, 4.21d and 4.22d.

That’s me done. I’ll leave you with the lovely tables.

Draught Bitter in 1960

Brewer

Beer

Price
per pint d

OG

FG

ABV

atten-uation

bitterness

price
per % ABV

Ansells

Bitter

17

1045.3

1010.7

4.50

76.38%

31

3.78

Worthington

"E"

18

1041.8

1006.5

4.60

84.45%

28

3.91

Bass

Red Triangle

18

1043.1

1008.5

4.50

80.28%

34

4.00

Carlisle State
Management

Bitter

14

1038.2

1008.2

3.90

78.53%

28

3.59

Charrington

India Pale Ale

19

1044.9

1013.25

4.10

70.49%

37

4.63

Courage &
Barclay

Bitter

17

1040.3

1010.25

3.90

74.57%

40

4.36

Flowers

Keg Bitter

22

1039.1

1012.8

3.40

67.26%

33

6.47

Fremlins

Best Bitter

21

1044.7

1009.3

4.60

79.19%

34

4.56

Friary Meux

Bitter

13

1034.9

1007.2

3.60

79.37%

28

3.61

Georges

Bitter

13

1030.9

1004.75

3.40

84.63%

24

3.82

Greenall
Whitley

Bitter

14

1034.4

1005.95

3.70

82.70%

40

3.78

Greene King

Bitter

15

1037.0

1006.25

4.00

83.11%

33

3.75

Hammond United

Best Bitter

16

1035.5

1004.05

4.10

88.59%

20

3.90

Ind Coope

Bitter (BB)

15

1037.7

1008.4

3.80

77.72%

36

3.94

John Smiths

Best Bitter

16

1036.8

1010.55

3.40

71.33%

40

4.71

Tennant

Best Bitter

16

1038.3

1006.05

4.20

84.20%

30

3.81

Tennant

Queen's Ale

18

1041.7

1008.6

4.30

79.38%

35

4.18

Thwaites

Bitter

16

1035.8

1006.6

3.80

81.56%

32

4.21

Truman

Bitter

16

1037.6

1007.6

3.90

79.79%

30

4.10

Ushers

Bitter

13

1031.9

1008.75

3.00

72.57%

25

4.33

Vaux

Best Bitter

15

1034.8

1005.6

3.80

83.91%

22

3.95

Watney

Special Bitter

19

1043.1

1014.5

3.70

66.36%

33

5.14

Whitbread

Bitter

17

1037.4

1009.65

3.60

74.20%

35

4.72

Wilson

Bitter

15

1036.1

1006.1

3.90

83.10%

35

3.84

Younger, Wm.

Bitter

18

1043.9

1010.8

4.30

75.40%

40

4.19

Average

16.44

1038.6

1008.4

3.92

78.36%

32.12

4.21

Source:

Which Beer Report, 1960, pages 171 - 173.

Draught Bitter in 1960

Brewer

Year

Price
per pint d

OG

FG

ABV

atten-uation

Colour

price
per % ABV

Bass

Bitter

21

1044

1009.8

4.45

77.73%

19

4.72

Beasley

Bitter

15

1034.3

1004.5

3.72

86.88%

35

4.03

Blatch Brewery

Bitter

14

1031.8

1003.9

3.49

87.74%

20

4.01

Burt & Co.

Best Bitter

13

1032.6

1004.5

3.51

86.20%

20

3.70

Charles
Wells

Bitter

18

1034.4

1006.6

3.48

80.81%

18

5.18

Charrington

Ordinary Bitter

14

1033.8

1008

3.35

76.33%

18

4.18

Charrington

Best Bitter

19

1044.5

1012.9

4.10

71.01%

24

4.64

Clinch

Bitter

13

1034

1006.1

3.49

82.06%

20

3.73

Courage &
Barclay

Directors' Bitter

24

1048.8

1008.4

5.27

82.79%

26

4.56

Courage &
Barclay

Bitter

17

1040.4

1009.1

4.07

77.48%

23

4.18

Courage &
Barclay

Alton Pale Ale

17

1040.4

1009.4

4.03

76.73%

25

4.22

Dunmow Brewery

Bitter

14

1033.6

1006.6

3.37

80.36%

25

4.15

Flowers

Bitter

19

1040.6

1008.8

3.97

78.33%

24

4.78

Fremlin

XXX Bitter

14

1035.5

1005.7

3.72

83.94%

26

3.76

Friary

Bitter

14

1033.8

1005.2

3.57

84.62%

20

3.92

Friary Meux

Treble Gold

18

1042.3

1008.9

4.18

78.96%

23

4.31

Fullers

London Pride

20

1042.3

1010.5

4.13

75.18%

24

4.85

Fullers

Ordinary Bitter

16

1032.2

1005.3

3.50

83.54%

24

4.58

Garne &
Sons

Best Bitter

17

1042.9

1009.5

4.18

77.86%

30

4.07

Garne &
Sons

Bitter

13

1031.2

1004.3

3.36

86.22%

21

3.87

Gibbs Mew

Blue Keg Bitter

18

1036

1007.6

3.55

78.89%

25

5.07

Gray's

Bitter

13

1033.6

1006.1

3.44

81.85%

21

3.78

Greene King

Abbot Ale

22

1051.3

1007.9

5.43

84.60%

20

4.06

Greene King

Best Bitter

15

1038.4

1007.4

3.88

80.73%

20

3.87

Greene King

Ordinary Bitter

13

1033.9

1005.7

3.53

83.19%

26

3.69

Harvey's

Bitter

14

1033.8

1006.1

3.46

81.95%

22

4.04

Ind Coope

Double Diamond

19

1040.2

1010

3.92

75.12%

22

4.85

McMullen

Best Bitter

16

1041.1

1010.8

3.79

73.72%

25

4.22

McMullen

Ordinary Bitter

15

1037

1008

3.63

78.38%

22

4.14

Mew Langton

Best Bitter

18

1037

1008.6

3.55

76.76%

19

5.07

Morland

Bitter

14

1035.6

1006.1

3.69

82.87%

18

3.80

Morrell

Best Bitter

15

1035.3

1005.3

3.75

84.99%

23

4.00

Morrell

Light Bitter

12

1030.7

1005

3.21

83.71%

17

3.74

Rayments

Best Bitter

14

1035.7

1006.4

3.66

82.07%

22

3.82

Rayments

Bitter

12

1030.3

1004.1

3.27

86.47%

18

3.66

Ridley

Best Bitter

21

1047

1007.8

4.90

83.40%

22

4.29

Ridley

Ordinary Bitter

14

1034.2

1009.8

3.05

71.35%

19

4.59

Simonds

Best Bitter

19

1042.3

1007.5

4.35

82.27%

17

4.37

Simpson &
Co.

Bitter

15

1036.2

1008

3.53

77.90%

24

4.26

Star Brewery

SPA

17

1039.5

1005.8

4.21

85.32%

22

4.04

Star Brewery

Bitter

12

1029.5

1003.3

3.28

88.81%

20

3.66

Tamplin

Bitter

14

1034.3

1006

3.54

82.51%

24

3.96

Tetley

Bitter

16

1037.9

1003.7

4.28

90.24%

20

3.74

Tollemache

Bitter

16

1033.3

1003.4

3.74

89.79%

20

4.28

Truman

Best Burton Bitter

18

1042.7

1009.7

4.29

77.28%

19

4.20

Truman

Ordinary Burton
Bitter

16

1037.4

1007.6

3.87

79.68%

20

4.13

Usher

Ordinary Bitter

13

1032.5

1007.3

3.15

77.54%

18

4.13

Usher,
Trowbridge

Best Bitter

18

1043.6

1010

4.20

77.06%

21

4.29

Watney

Special Bitter

19

1044.2

1009.6

4.50

78.28%

26

4.22

Wells &
Winch

Bitter

16

1036

1010.3

3.21

71.39%

12

4.98

Wenlock

Bitter

16

1035

1008.7

3.41

75.14%

26

4.69

Whitbread

Bitter

17

1038.5

1011

3.56

71.43%

20

4.77

Young & Co

Best Bitter

20

1048.4

1011.5

4.61

76.24%

24

4.34

Young & Co

Ordinary Bitter

15

1037.5

1006.6

3.86

82.40%

19

3.88

Average

16.15

1037.7

1007.4

3.818

80.52%

21.81

4.22

Source:

Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan
Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

I’ve a few other types of beer to plough through. Unless I get distracted.

Sunday, 30 August 2015

Here’s another DDR brewery and its beers. This is so much fun. A way of using all those DDR labels I recently picked up.

Colbitz is in Sachsen-Anhalt, about 10 km North of Magdeburg. The brewery was founded as the Colbitzer Brauerei in 1879 by Friedrich-Christoph Ritter. In 1959 it was partially nationalised and in 1972 fully nationalised. In 1991 it was returned to the family that formerly owned it. The brewery is still active.

There’s a little on their website about the beers brewed in the late 19th-century. I’m pretty sure they’ve got the top- and bottom-fermented beers the wrong way around. It reckons these were top-fermented: helles Lagerbier, Doppelmärzen, Doppelmärzen-Bock and Malzbier. And these bottom-fermented: Weißbier and Braunbier “Puparsch-Knall”.

Jumping forwards more than 100 years, this is their current beer range:

Cannewitzer beers in 2015

Beer

style

OG Plato

ABV

Colbitzer
Pils

Pilsner

11.2

4.90%

Colbitzer
Bock

Bock

16.8

7.10%

Colbitzer
Dunkel

Dunkles

11.25

4.90%

Colbitzer
Edel

Helles

11.25

4.90%

Source:

Colbitzer website http://www.colbitzer-heidebrauerei.de

Next are their beers from the DDR period, in the form of labels. Unsurprisingly, Bock and Pilsner are constants:

Saturday, 29 August 2015

I just came across this dead handy document I’d forgotten I had. It’s TGL 7764: the official DDR standard document for beer.

One of the useful bits of information is something on beers styles. A little table documenting the characteristics of each type of beer. It’s rather longer than the table in Kunze and includes some styles I never came across. Things like Lagerbier Dunkel, Lagerbier Spezial and Dunkel.

It doesn’t include ABV, so I’ve calculated it from the OG and rate of attenuation. I’ve used the middle of the gravity range and either the middle of the attenuation range or the minimum value. What it shows is quite a narrow range of ABVs, with the vast majority of styles between 3.5 and 5%.

I’d been wondering about Doppel-Karamelbier. It always specifies Vollbier on the label, but I was fairly certain it was low ABV. The fact no rate of attenuation is specified implies to me that it’s very low. And that it’s one of those weird German styles with a normal OG, but minimal amount of alcohol. Consulting Kunze*, I see that it had an ABC of 0.63% to 1.5%. So hardly fermented at all.

Another odd feature is the number of Pilsner styles: four in total. I’m not sure why Deutsches Pilsator and Deutsches Pilsner Spezial get separate entries as their specifications seem identical. As do Lagerbier Hell and Lagerbier Spezial, Lagerbier Dunkel and Lagerbier Dunkel Spezial.

It’s handy that there’s an indication of bitterness, though I’m not sure how that relates to IBUs. It does indicate the relative bitterness of the types, at least.